1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to methods for reducing unwanted electronic communications, with a non-limited emphasis upon xe2x80x9cspamxe2x80x9d and other forms of unwanted electronic mail.
2. Background
As is well known, electronic mail (xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d) messages can be sent and received from almost any location using a computer or other device with a MODEM and an available telephone line. At the time of the initial filing of the application upon which this Letters Patent is based, well over 300 million hourly e-mail messages, and approximately 3 trillion yearly e-mail messages, were being sent to computer users.
To the chagrin of many e-mail users, much of the messages and attached files they receive can be classified as xe2x80x9cspam.xe2x80x9d In general, spam is unsolicited, mass-transmitted e-mail analogous to xe2x80x9cjunkxe2x80x9d mail received by postal customers. Unlike postal junk mailers, xe2x80x9cspammersxe2x80x9d have very little increased cost associated with sending mass e-mailings, and are exponentially wreaking havoc.
Not only does spam overwhelm users"" system resources and commandeer their time in order to delete unwanted messages, but it also transmits undesirable subject matter for many users. The undesirable subject matter for some, ranges from unwanted commercial solicitation, to chain mailings, to sexually explicit material.
One simplistic prior art approach to solving the problem of eliminating unwanted e-mail messages is for the user to compile a list of acceptable senders"" e-mail addresses, or a list of banned senders"" addresses, or both. Software on the user""s computer system would then reject all incoming e-mail which is from a banned source, or which is from an unauthorized source. This approach has several problems; among them, rejecting perfectly legitimate e-mails the user would indeed have an interest in, simply because the sender""s address does not appear on the list of authorized senders. This approach also places an untenable burden upon the user to constantly update the aforementioned list in order to avoid improper rejections. This approach also lacks the ability to recognize desirable senders whose e-mail addresses have changed unbeknownst to the recipient.
Another approach to eliminating unwanted e-mail messages is to install a filter on the user""s system, or at the level of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) administering the user""s e-mail account. Prior to presenting an e-mail message to the user, the filter peruses the e-mail for words or character strings that have been identified as tending to be associated with an undesirable communication. Regardless of how sophisticated these filters are, they often reject perfectly legitimate e-mail messages for failure to place the forbidden words in context. These filters also fail to reject undesirable messages that are cleverly worded to appear innocuous to filters, but yet contain subject matter the user would not otherwise like to receive.
In yet another approach, the user employs a third party to administer a filtering service for screening all e-mail messages. All e-mail sent to a service subscriber""s address is routed to a server or other instrumentality under the control of the filter service operator. The filtering service combines software and human screeners to review all messages, and pass to the subscriber, only those messages meeting the subscriber""s positive and/or negative criteria. This approach adds extra cost to e-mail service, and while it may eliminate more of the cleverly worded but yet undesirable messages, nonetheless suffers from the same software limitations as previously mentioned approaches. It is also prone to human error. Compounding these problems is a loss of privacy on the part of the subscriber, as well as a requirement that the subscriber relinquish a degree of control to third parties who lack to personal experience and information to accept those messages which may appear forbidden on the surface, but might actually be desirable for receipt nonetheless.
A newer approach advocated, but yet to be successfully implemented commercially, is to charge an e-mail sender a fee for every message he or she sends. This is designed to make the price of spamming cost-prohibitive, while not leading to raised costs for typical e-mail users. While this can be controlled by ISPs who service the spammers, it will not discourage spammers whose ISPs do not charge for individual mail. Further, this moves away from the concept of e-mail for the masses which is not encumbered by a fee or taxing event for every message. It also requires those who send a large number of legitimate, desirable e-mails that are not seen as a nuisance, to pay unacceptably high up-front fees.
A further proposed refinement of the latter approach requires e-mail users to install special software that automatically assesses a fee (payable to the user) for each e-mail message from an unrecognized sender. The fee can be collected via the Internet Service Provider (ISP) where the sender and recipient have a common ISP. If not, the multiple ISPs involved can cooperate to charge the fee. If the user determines that the e-mail was desirable, he or she can cancel the charge. The fee is a matter of design choice, and can be, for example, in the $1 to $3 range.
While the latter approach may indeed serve as a deterrent to sending spam, it includes facets that make it impractical. Automatically and randomly charging senders having addresses unknown to the recipient, without their knowledge that they could be charged does not permit e-mail senders to adequately plan their costs associated with sending e-mails. Further, there is a financial incentive for some recipients to abuse the system by not canceling fees for legitimate e-mails, simply to collect the fee.
It should be noted that the problems associated with e-mail and unwanted messages are also present with other forms of electronic communication, such as, for example, telephone calls and facsimile transmissions. Solutions to reducing unwanted messages and contact for these other forms of communication are also inadequate.
In view of the aforementioned problems and deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides a method of regulating electronic communications. The method at least includes the steps of receiving a communication from a sender for a designated recipient, comparing sender identity indicia attached to the communication with stored sender identity indicia in a database under the control of the recipient, and presenting the communication to the recipient for acceptance or rejection, when the sender identity indicia is determined to be acceptable. The method further at least includes the steps of sending a return message to the sender indicating that a bond must be posted when the sender identity indicia is not determined to be acceptable, and that money associated with the bond shall be forfeited if the communication is presented to the recipient and the recipient rejects the communication, dissolving the bond when the recipient accepts the communication, and causing the money associated with the bond to be forfeited when the recipient rejects the communication.
The present invention also provides a system for regulating electronic communications. The system includes, inter alia, at least a communication server adapted to receive a communication from a sender for a designated recipient, a sender identity indicia database adapted to store sender identity indicia under the direction of the recipient corresponding to acceptable or unacceptable sender identities, a comparator adapted to compare sender identity indicia attached to the communication with stored sender identity indicia database, and a bond establisher adapted to enable communication senders to establish bonds. The communication server is further adapted to present the communication to the recipient for acceptance or rejection, when the sender identity indicia is determined to be acceptable according to the output and interpretation of the comparator, and send a return message to the sender indicating that a bond must be posted when the sender identity indicia is not determined to be acceptable, and that money associated with the bond shall be forfeited if the communication is presented to the recipient and the recipient rejects the communication. The system is also adapted to dissolve the bond when the recipient accepts the communication, and cause the money associated with the bond to be forfeited when the recipient rejects the communication.
The present invention further provides a method of regulating electronic communications that at least includes the steps of receiving a communication from a sender for a designated recipient, and if the communication is accompanied by a posted bond, the amount of which is specified by the recipient, the recipient providing a guarantee that the communication will be accepted.